Tag: Susan Kirks

Just the good beaver news

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers and water, Mike Callahan, Who's saving beavers now? May 7, 2017

We had a great day yesterday and were especially happy to meet four separate people before 1 who started out by explaining that they attended “that big meeting to save the beavers way back when.” I was especially happy that the four strangers all said they didn’t speak because everyone there was doing such a great job already. I am always very happy to meet people that didn’t speak at that meeting. Because it means there were so many more people there that I even knew about.

No wonder the city council looked pale!

More good news about the Beaver Institute, still in it’s formative stages. Director Mike Callahan wrote me this week that he had just finished the first grant application.

Yesterday I sent in our first grant application for the Beaver Institute. Hopefully we’ll be awarded $10K from the Animal Welfare Institute, with us providing an equal amount for a big website, training webinars, getting the DVD on-line, and training and certifying flow device installers in 5 states, with a 5 year goal of a network of certified installers in all 49 beaver-inhabited states. We’ll see. Fingers crossed.

I love love LOVE the idea of certified installers. That means no more lying public works employee saying they installed a beaver deceiver because they inserted a broken pipe or half a straw. Will it be like a drivers test? Will their be a written portion?

I heard yesterday that Worth A Dam was awarded our grant from the CCC Fish and Wildlife Commission for the beaver festival activity that will let children earn their wildlife tattoos. Hurray!!! That’s 1000 dollars we won’t have to pay for. Something in me must have wanted to educate the commissioners as well, because this was the opening paragraph of the application:

The importance of beaver and their dams to salmonids, biodiversity, nitrate removal and water storage is becoming ever more widely recognized. In a recent article about restoring beaver populations in the United Kingdom, science writer Alex Riley aptly observed, “A beaver is not just an animal. It is an ecosystem.” This quote starkly illustrates how dramatically beaver presence enriches our creeks, and conversely, how severely beaver removal depletes them. Despite this, and despite the success of management techniques demonstrated for a decade in Martinez, beaver depredation remains common. Last year in this county alone, the 7 beaver depredation permits issued included three for an unlimited take. We do not emphasize enough that every time beaver removal occurs there are significant consequences for fish and wildlife, something that ecological education should strive to correct. With this in mind, our project was designed to teach children the importance of beavers’ role in the ecosystem, highlighting the direct impact they have on other wildlife.

Sometimes I get the weird feeling that getting a PhD in child psychology was the perfect training for doing a kid’s education beaver festival grant. Maybe it was destiny after all?

More good news, there was an excellent article in the Sunday Times yesterday in the UK. The paper is mostly behind a subscriber wall but I could tell from the first two paragraphs I wanted to see the rest. I of course went begging from my friends for help and the Scottish professor from Edinburgh was happy to assist. Thanks!

Busy beavers shore up our defences

If only someone in authority had had the foresight to call for beavers, thousands of flood victims across the country may not have ended up forced out of their homes with nowhere to go.

A new report by Devon Wildlife Trust uses scientific data from a pilot scheme to reveal that the rodent engineers are able to staunch floodwater by using their dams to store it in pools and canals, thereby lessening the impact downriver. The dams, constructed from mud and sticks, leak a continuous stream of water, which allows the ponds to refill during heavy rainfall. Beavers constantly adjust their water systems, increasing the number and size of dams, pools and canals to accommodate the volume of water.

The statistical data, gathered in what is believed to be the only scientific study of its type in the world, reveal that beavers could also be an alternative to hosepipe bans in times of drought because the dams continue to leak water downstream, even when upstream ponds have run dry. In dry parts of America, Coca-Cola has successfully used beavers to replenish water. The trust’s report also found that as water progresses through the beavers’ dams, it is purged of contaminants such as farming fertilisers and silt.

Isn’t that wonderful? Just in case you don’t have a Scottish professor friend, you can go read the whole thing here. But the upshot is that beavers make water better, and we need them in the places where we live because they will help waterways behave better. Ahh!

Finally a wonderful donation to the silent auction came from the Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation this week. I originally glimpsed this wonderful 50th anniversary shirt on photographers Tom Rusert’s FB feed, and then asked friend Susan Kirks for an introduction to the group producing it, who was able to introduce me to the director, who in addition to promising one was kind enough to introduce me to the artist, Molly Eckler, a local artist in Sebastapol that has done amazing work for Point Reyes, The Laguna Foundation and others. Molly was kind enough offer a slough of posters as well. In fact we’re picking them up this weekend on our way to Safari West and I can’t wait. It’s kind of incredible how the intricate path we have walked these past 10 years links everything so seamlessly together. Thank you to Everyone!

All in a day’s beaver work!

heidi08 Beavers and water September 15, 2014

Another fun day for wildlife spent in the beautiful wine country at Cornerstone. Tom and Darren were constantly on their toes running back and forth to keep things smooth.There were birds and badgers and bats and of course BEAVERS. Cheryl, Lory and Ron were unbelievably helpful getting things together there. We made new friends, plugged beaver benefits and positive solutions, and generally talked about what Martinez had done to solve challenges. I love this picture from the morning, not because we’re still bright eyed and bushy tailed, but because it shows off the AMAZING new restoration poster at the back which we never got to show off correctly at the festival because it was improperly hung and ripped down in a nanosecond. Isn’t it beautiful?

A few folk there had seen the Napa beavers, and many wanted to come visit to see ours. Tom and I had several like-minded conversations throughout the day emphasizing how important it is to connect wildlife groups together so they can learn from what everyone else is doing.The photographer Suzy Esterhaus was there, still excited about her upcoming photo shoot of the Martinez Beavers for Ranger Rick, and Susan Kirks of PLAN stopped by to give us our badger spirit award. They are signed by their state representatives, with a big gold official looking seal.

Thank you Susan for making us feel like what we do matters! I personally love that two politicians had to sit down and personally sign something that said WORTH A DAM in the title.

This was a comment from JoEllen after Saturday, looks like we get Sulpher Creek at the beaver festival!

Just want to thank you again for the outstanding presentation, and for coming “all the way” to Hayward! (You not only educated us about beavers, but about where Martinez is! How provincial we are!!) I will be working on getting Sulphur Creek to the next Beaver Festival.
Thanks, JoEllen

Beavers win Badger-Spirit Award

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? September 1, 2014

2014 Badger Spirit awards are presented to:

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center and WATER Institute in Occidental, CA, for their work in conserving natural resources, sustainable agriculture, respect for the environment, and the WATER Institute’s national outreach to “Bring Back the Beaver” and restoring Coho Salmon to watersheds programs. More info: www.oaec.org, and oaec.org/water-institute.

Worth a Dam, Martinezbeavers.org, based in Martinez, CA, for conservation, outreach and educational programs on behalf of Beavers in the United States and stewardship and protection of the Martinez Beavers in Martinez, CA. More info: Martinezbeavers.org

sfbaywildlife.info, an innovative and contemporary internet resource, for San Francisco Bay Area information about wildlife, places, activities and resources. More info: sfbaywildlife.info

Many thanks to Susan and the Paula Lane Action Network for recognizing beavers with this years awards. We even got mention in the local Press Democrat.

Award for Bring Back the Beaver program

The group Worth a Dam which also works to educate the public about the value of beavers in restoration and conservation of natural resources was also recognized. The group holds an annual Beaver Festival in Martinez where beavers have become a tourist attraction as well as providing a habitat for other wildlife..

The much maligned animal has proved its worth in preserving valuable salmon runs, and in water conservation. Bring Back the Beaver and Worth a Dam are working to educate the public and change state policies about the beaver which date back to 1942 and are founded on inaccurate data.

A beaver-maniac like me is thrilled to accept the honor. I first wrote Susan close to 8 years ago when she was a writer for Sonoma Press Blog and had written about our beavers. When I learned about her badger affinity I told her that through a weird series of coincidences my earliest fiercely loved toy had been an actual stuffed badger the neighbor had thrown over the fence. I had loved its soft fur and sharp claws, and imagined that its badger spirit had shaped my adult life, making me unwilling to give up on much of anything including the Martinez beavers.

Thank you PLAN for recognizing the badger spirit in us! And we look forward to badgering people about beavers for years to come!

A Badgerly Spirit

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, New Species March 5, 2012

Susan Kirks, an acupuncturist by day, became mesmerized by the plight of the American badger. Photo by Elizabeth Proctor.

Recognize this smiling face? Susan Kirks of PLAN and badger fame was the featured article recently on the Bay Nature Website. It is such a grand read I am sure your heart will feel better at the end of it than it does right now. I may have to start a whole new podcast series! Badgers of Change!

By Elizabeth Proctor — published February 20, 2012

In west Petaluma, a hilly, treeless plot of land will be declared the Paula Lane Nature Preserve next month because of the tenacious work of local residents who were inspired by an equally tenacious creature — the American badger.

At the forefront of the effort is Susan Kirks, who co-founded the Paula Lane Action Network (PLAN) in 2001 in order to keep the 11-acre property out of the hands of housing developers. The 10 year land battle is coming to a close, but to Kirks there’s still work to be done. At 58, Kirks, an acupuncturist by day, has made a life’s mission out of studying, protecting, and providing PR for this much maligned member of the weasel family.

Inspired yet? You all understand by now what it means when someone gets summoned by an impulse to make a difference and devotes their life to it even when it has nothing to do ostensibly with their own self-interests or training or day job? I recognized Susan as a familiar (s)hero many years ago when she wrote some lovely articles about the Martinez Beavers.. She’s been an indispensable display at the festival for three years now and her cheerful articles first from Petaluma 360 and now from Petaluma Patch have been a reliable beaver defense from the North.

Always willing to provide a pithy quote to the media, beaver friend Brock Dolman (who is basically Susan’s neighbor but the pair had never connected until I introduced them) had this to say to the reporter.

“I think there is a symbolic connection to make around the tenacity that she has shown, that badgerly spirit of digging in and not being deterred,” said Brock Dolman of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. “She could see the value of Paula Lane, and the badger became the totem species that represented a lot of that value.”

Badgerly spirit indeed! Susan’s spirit is the uber-badger! Her persistance never fails to take my breath! Long time readers of this blog will already know the surreal story that as a toddler I was given a stuffed real badger by a quirky neighbor. I’m not sure I knew it was dead, but I thought it was the most furry, beautiful and ferocious thing I had ever seen. I of course demanded to be allowed to carry it everywhere – even to bed. Calvin and Hobbes had nothing on Heidi and her badger. As weird as it is, I have often thought that that early badger alliance imbued somehow a tenacious spirit. Of course its one of the first things I ever told Susan which immediately made us fast friends.

No word yet on whether she ever had a stuffed beaver…

Just how Kirks fell in love with badgers, of all creatures, dates back to her arrival in the neighborhood 12 years ago. Having moved to west Petaluma with her two rescued horses, it wasn’t long before Kirks began to notice holes in the ground. A friend told her they were badger dens, which piqued her curiosity. She began to spend much of her time observing the land.

Kirks said her connection to the badgers at Paula Lane is healing and has reignited her childhood passion for the outdoors.

“The funny thing is, I never intended to become a naturalist that has a body of knowledge about the American badger,” Kirks said, laughing. “But the more I came to understand the species, the more I realized what a significant role it plays in ecosystems.”

Go read the entire, lovely article and tell your friends to do the same. It’s a beautiful description of what graceful tenacity looks like up close. I’m so glad Bay Nature has started to give her the credit she deserves, and so very happy Susan is in the world taking care of badgers!

Now just in case you can’t face Monday without your daily dose of beaver-trivia, I have a great story from Florida. This weekend I happened upon the tale of an unexpected visitor in Tallahasee, where apparently Luke Barnhill came home to find a beaver cooling in his swimming pool. He promptly called the St. Francis Wildlife Association which came and removed the animal and will find it someplace better to reside I hope. (Can’t you hear the beaver now? You want me to go where? There’s alligators out there!) I gave them a donation this weekend and told them where to look for more information, but this fun story is as good an excuse as any to post my Very Favorite Beaver Photos Ever.

Years ago they were posted on the internet by a couple from Dallas who may have started out bemused about the visit but were told by a wildlife company that beavers carry disease and eventually chased this little fellow out of their yard with a pool scrape. Never mind their mean-spirited response. These lovely photos make the entire episode worthwhile. Whenever I fear beavers may have taken over my life I always look at them fondly. I especially like the one of the beaver at the bottom of the pool. Remember when you were two and you’d close your eyes and think no one could see you? He’s hiding from the photographer! Sneaky huh?

OREGON BOUND!!!!!!

heidi08 Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers February 1, 2011

Now THIS feels like a send-off! I got a call from the Gazette yesterday about the upcoming conference and a note from Leonard Houston (conference organizer) that they called them about it as well. When I called Greta back she was on the phone with (wait for it) APHIS. Go read Greta’s outstanding article!

Seems someone sent her the 2009 stats for the numbers of beaver killed in CA by the USDA. (I wonder where someone could have gotten that?) Anyway she was startled at the numbers, and more stunned when I told her that APHIS was a small fraction of the number of beavers killed each year.

APHIS told her predictably that ”Flow Devices Don’t Work” and she wants to know what’s going to change this! When are attitudes about beavers going to keep up with current research? Will the conference help? Does Martinez prove anything? When is it going to be different?

I said…hmmm…have you ever seen an ocean liner try to do a U-turn? It takes a LONGGGGGGGGGGGG time. Change is coming in increments you can measure in nano tools. That’s what the conference is about. Do some flow devices fail? Absolutely. it depends on how skilled the installation is. If your plumber did heart surgery on you it might fail too, that doesn’t mean the technique itself is unsuccessful.

She did a bang-up job talking about the pragmatic benefits of beaver in today’s paper and wants to have a longer conversation about it when I come back. I always love to get folk riled about beaver stats, and I’m sure I’ll come back brimming with things to talk about.

Then there’s this uplifting article from our friend Susan Kirks in Petaluma.

Busy Martinez Beavers – time for an update!

State of the Beaver Conference 2011 takes place in Canyonville, Oregon Feb. 2-4, and Heidi Perryman of Worth A Dam, the Martinez Beavers’ protectors, is a presenter. Heidi will speak about Urban Beavers and management in the urban setting. The Martinez Beavers are the beacon of hope for beaver protection – and appreciation – in a protected and managed habitat.

Go read the entire thing. Susan does such a graceful job outlying upcoming events that she even manages to plug the beaver festival! Thanks all for an excellent send off. I’ll try to post pictures of beaverly famous people soon wearing Worth A Dam t-shirts. In the mean time I’ll leave you in Lory Bruno’s capable hands until I get back or burst with gossip and have to sneak in and share. Be nice to your debut blogger! Make her love this job a lot so I can sneak a day off once in while!

Go Beavers! And don’t laugh about the music. I actually exchanged emails with Dr. Townsend about the possibility of sending a pep band to the conference. He liked the idea, but the timing was off. Still, maybe next year?